As a result of Wisconsin's strict voter ID law, college students are treated differently, facing unnecessary barriers to voting. This deliberate disenfranchisement is wrong and must be addressed; we should be encouraging civic participation by young voters, not preventing it.

Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) is joining many other organizations in Wisconsin in urging our members and supporters to take action the rest of this week – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 3rd, 4th & 5th to elevate and advance fair voter maps and an end to partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin.

Last month, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), authorized – without public input, or even a vote in the Legislature – the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funds to defend the 2011 state legislative district maps drawn in secret.

Last Friday, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel (R) appealed the November Federal three-judge Court panel ruling that the 2011 GOP gerrymander of WI's state legislative districts was unconstitutional.

As expected, last Friday Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel (R) appealed the November Federal three-judge Court panel ruling that the 2011 Republican gerrymander of Wisconsin's state legislative districts was unconstitutional. And as we have been detailing for the last month, Republican legislative leaders have, without your permission or public input, decided to utilize your tax dollars to defend the rigged, unconstitutional 2011 maps and that bill will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Retired judge Robert E. Kinney, a member of the six-member Wisconsin Ethics Commission, resigned this morning citing a lack of commitment on the part of some of the Commissioners to upholding open and ethical state government, excessive secrecy, and a lack of transparency in the proceedings of the commission.

On Monday, a federal 3-judge court panel issued an unprecedented decision that is a huge victory for all of those voters of Wisconsin who want and deserve a real choice in their elections and a system of redrawing state legislative districts after each Census in a non-partisan, transparent and reputable process.

Wisconsin should drop its fight to preserve an unneeded, vote-suppressing, voter identification requirement and move to join the five states that register eligible citizens automatically when they do business at motor vehicle and other state offices, Common Cause says in a report released today.

In sorting through the Common Cause Wisconsin office recently, we came across a press release from then-State Representative Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa) proposing that all out-of-state groups that spend money in Wisconsin elections disclose where those funds came from. He strongly supported the type of full disclosure of the donors of outside money that Wisconsin has needed for two decades.

In an unprecedented action that shocked Wisconsin and the nation last night, State Senate Republicans voted 18 to 1 to pass the controversial budget repair bill by "stripping" away the monetary elements of the legislation and therefore negating the need for 20 votes to consider the bill. Discussions to plan and accomplish this action were held entirely behind closed doors and out of public view by Republican legislators and Governor Scott Walker on Wednesday before moving to clear their action in Conference Committee and in the State Senate - with only Republican Senators voting.

The current election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court is not likely to be the high spending special interest frenzy that the court elections in 2007 and 2008 were. But it is still very nasty and charges continue to fly about how campaign contributions influence the candidates, further eroding public confidence in the impartiality and integrity of Wisconsin's highest court.